Norris McDonald's Auto Racing Blog

Ferrari hopes to sign Jenson Button for 2012

WEEKEND HEADLINES:

1. Button may go to Ferrari to replace Massa

2. Drivers, fans have too much influence at IndyCar

3. Mosport preview; Denny Hamlin finally wins

4. Wickens nearly sweeps weekend at Nurburgring

SYNOPSIS:

– Formula One’s Silly Season is in full swing but one rumour that might turn out to be true has Jenson Button leaving McLaren-Mercedes to drive alongside Fernando Alonso at Ferrari in 2012. Please see first post below.

– Randy Bernard was hired to save IndyCar. He’s done some good things but the series is going back to places where it wasn’t wanted because of a lobby group made up of fans, media and drivers/owners. And unlike NASCAR or F1 (where they make major changes almost weekly) howls of protest greet just about every progressive marketing initiative that he's announced. If the series hopes to grow, Bernard has to be left alone to do his job. Please see second post below.

– There were a couple of so-so races at Michigan on the weekend, with Denny Hamlin winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup race and Carl Edwards the Nationwide. But the best produced race was a tape-delay from Circuit ICAR of a few weeks ago and the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series will be in action at Mosport next weekend. Please see third post below.

– Robert Wickens, of Guelph and Toronto, who could be Canada’s next F1 driver, won two poles and one of the two races the World Series by Renault ran at the Nurburgring this weekened. He was second in the other. Plus other racing results. Please see fourth post below.

Button to Ferrari? Believe it!

SYNOPSIS: Formula One’s Silly Season is in full swing but one rumour that might turn out to be true has Jenson Button leaving McLaren-Mercedes to drive alongside Fernando Alonso at Ferrari in 2012.

Hard as it might be to believe, Britain’s News of the World confirmed on Sunday what F1 insiders have been suggesting for some time now – that Jenson Button will be heading to Scuderia Ferrari in 2012 to replace Felipe Massa.

Two things suggest the story is true.

One, Button has not "rubbished" it and, in fact, his silence on the matter is deafening.

Second, Button continues to be furious about his McLaren-Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton’s bone-headed move early in last weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal when he tried to pass Button on driver’s left going along the main straight toward the first turn.

That Button then went on to drive the race of his life – it may very well have been one of the great drives in the history of Formula One (six pit stops, including a drive-through penalty which put him at the back of the pack) – is small consolation if you think your teammate is distracted and performing foolishly.

If it happened once, it could happen again.

Hamilton’s troubles are grist for a future column. This one is about Button and why a move to Ferrari would make sense.

Massa has not been the same driver since his horrible accident at Hungary in 2009. He’s still among the best in F1, but that’s not good enough for Ferrari, which needs someone to really push its No. 1, Fernando Alonso.

Button is demanding and disciplined, just what the Scuderia needs as it tries to regain the dominance it once had in F1 when Michael Schumacher was demanding and disciplined.

Ferrari would be the perfect place for Button to end his career. He was a talented, knockabout driver for years until he came into his own with Brawn GP and won the world championship. To put an exclamation point on his accomplishments while driving for F1's most famous team would be the perfect ending.

A Ferrari source told the News of the World at the weekend that Ferrari was checking out Button’s availability.

Will it happen? Who knows? But it would be a win for both sides.

Too many cooks spoiling IndyCar's broth

SYNOPSIS: Randy Bernard was hired to save IndyCar. He’s done some good things but the series is going back to places where it wasn’t wanted because of a lobby group made up of fans, media and drivers/owners. And unlike NASCAR or F1 (where they make major changes almost weekly) howls of protest greet just about every progressive marketing initiative that he's announced. If the series hopes to grow, Bernard has to be left alone to do his job.

Dario Franchitti won the IZOD IndyCar Series race at Milwaukee on Sunday – and good for him – but once again we had a classic illustration of why IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard has to stop listening to the drivers, owners and fans as to how to go about building that business and start running it the way he wants to instead.

Case in point. IndyCar stopped going to Milwaukee after 2009 because people stopped going to the races there. The reasons why don’t matter. They stopped going.

But almost as soon as Bernard was hired, people started clammering for a return to Milwaukee and I kept thinking to myself, "Why?"

Anyway, Bernard announced last year that Milwaukee would be back on the 2011 schedule and everybody was pleased as punch.

The race yesterday was conducted in front of grandstands that were at least half-empty.

If this was club racing, everything would be fine. But it’s not. It’s a commercial enterprise that’s failing and it’s failing because too many people are having a say in something they shouldn’t be having a say about.

The people who went to the race at Milwaukee on Sunday are, presumably, passionate about the sport. That’s why they were there. And the drivers and owners are also passionate. We know that.

But it’s Randy Bernard’s job, in partnership with the promoter(s), to fill the empty half of those grandstands.

By saying, ‘Hey, we’re back," ain’t going to do it.

That’s why double-file restarts were introduced (the drivers bitched about that) and the decision made to determine starting positions by lottery for the second race at Texas last weekend (bitch, bitch) and the upcoming insertion into the lineup at the final race of the season at Las Vegas of five non-regular drivers (we haven’t heard much bitching about that, but you can expect a crescendo as the event approaches).

These decisions were made not for the fans of Indy car racing but in hopes of attracting people who don’t normally watch or care about Indy car racing in hopes that they, too, might become fans.

Now there seems to be the beginning of a movement to get the Indy cars to go back to the Road America course in Elkhart Lake, Wis.

And as was the case with Milwaukee, I say, "Why?"

I suspect there are locations in North America where the IZOD IndyCar Series would be welcomed with open arms – places where the Indy cars have either never raced before or where they haven’t raced for a long time.

The people in charge, Mr. Bernard, et al, would be well advised to start taking a look at some of those places instead of old reliable places like Milwaukee and Elkhart Lake, where the people have indicated they don’t care any more.

And when the fans, owners and drivers start in with their two cents, thank them for their input and then close the door.

Notebook jottings:

– Tony Kanaan spun out at Milwaukee yesterday – all by his lonesome. I can’t remember the last time Kanaan just lost the handle like that.

– Graham Rahal finished second behind Franchitti Sunday, followed by Oriol Servia, Will Power and Danica Patrick. James Hinchcliffe of Oakville drove to a sixth-place finish and that was a fabulous result for the young Canadian rookie.

Said Hinch: “The race was a lot of fun!  Honestly, the Sprott car was so good and the team did such a good job in the pits.  I didn’t test here and in practice I was getting us going in the wrong direction so we really leaned on him (Servia, his teammate) in qualifying and for the race setup and the car was great.  To get a top-six at a track like this on your first crack at it is something we can be pretty happy with."

He might have lost the Indy 500 rookie-of-the-year award to J.R. Hildebrand, but there is no doubt that Hinchcliffe is showing himself to be the best rookie in the series.

– Last week, when I ranted about the complaining going on about the lottery at Texas, I said Franchitti had crashed the Victory Lane celebration to continue objecting. That was wrong and I apologize. Franchitti, as the winner of the first race, was asked to go to Victory Lane to participate in post-race celebrations, so he had every right to be there.

– Speaking of Franchitti, he was pretty vocal in a post-race interview about what he said was Helio Castroneves’s blocking.

- Franchitti and Power are now tied for the lead in the championship standings.

– The TV reporting didn’t seem to be as crisp or as sharp as it usually is. Ana Beatriz started to drift high when she was being lapped and you could see she was in trouble, eventually hitting the wall, but Marty Reid and Scott Goodyear both took several moments to catch on to what was happpening.

Takuma Sato and Scott Dixon (mistakenly identified as Franchitti) collided going into the pits and a tire was bouncing around pit lane and there seemed to be some confusion in the booth as to what was going on. A replay showing Sato running over a crew member elicited a somewhat muted response.

I don’t think those guys were watching the U.S. Open (although I wouldn’t have blamed them if they had been) but something just didn’t seem right.

– Goodyear said that E.J. Viso is "a great driver, in many respects," and I wonder if Jimmy Vasser, his team owner, would agree. Viso went off on the hook for the fourth time in seven races. If he was winning, that would be one thing. But he’s not. In fact, I think he’s a menace.

– Franchitti went into the pits and he hit a tire in the pit before his. Just brushed it, but he hit it all the same. There’s usually a penalty for that sort of thing – running over hoses, etc.

Just thought I’d point that out.

- Simona De Silvestro had a miserable weekend. She crashed, went to the hospital for stitches, and said later that she hurts just about everywhere. Although her hands are headling from the burns suffered at Indianapolis, she has to wear protective gloves at all times.

She finished 25th in the 26-car field, dropping out early because of her car's poor handling.

NASCAR musings - Hamlin, Edwards win

Saturday afternoon, I was looking for the NASCAR Nationwide race and stumbled across the tape-delay presentation of the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series race at Circuit ICAR north of Montreal that was held several weeks ago.

I’m not a fan of tape-delay but I kept watching for two reasons: I was curious about the TV package produced by Toronto’s James Robinson Associates Ltd. and I wanted to see if young driving star Andrew Ranger had been as out-of-control on the track as I’d been led to believe.

As I’d suspected, the Robinson company presented a first-rate visual and sound package (including aerial shots) that covered all aspects of what was really an exciting race. If you’ve never watched one of the Canadian Tire Series races, I urge you to do so.

And Ranger really was extremely aggressive. I received a couple of rockets after that ICAR race, criticizing me for being too hard on him. But I suggest the letter-writers keep an eye out for a repeat of that Circuit ICAR race and see for themselves.

I’ve said it many times and I’ll say it again. Ranger is an incredibly talented young guy and he doesn’t have to ride roughshod over people to get past them.

In any event, the stars of NASCAR Canada – D.J. Kennington, Scott Steckly, Kerry Micks, Robin Buck, Jason Hathaway, Don Thomson Jr. and Mark Dilley, among others – will be in action next weekend at Mosport International Raceway for the Vortex Brake Pads 200

The Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship and the Ontario Formula Ford Series will also see action. Practice and qualifying starts Friday, with the Canadian Tire Series race headlining the weekend next Sunday afternoon.

Now, I finally found that Nationwide race at Michigan later on Saturday afternoon and Carl Edwards won it.

Sunday, Denny Hamlin finally won his first race of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season when he won the Helluva Good (Cheese) 400 at Michigan, with Matt Kenseth second, Kyle Busch third, Paul Menard fourth and Edwards fifth.

Ryan Newman was sixth, Tony Stewart seventh, Clint Bowyer eighth, Mark Martin was ninth and Bryan Vickers finished tenth.

Five-time champion Jimmie Johnson spun out early in the race and never got untracked while Dale Earnhardt Jr. was put into the wall by his teammate, Mark Martin.

Notebook jottings:

– Earnhardt was not nice when asked about Martin, suggesting that he was too old to be racing stock cars at that level. At least, that’s the way I heard it.

– Earlier in the week, Stewart had "traded places" with Lewis Hamilton and took an F1 car around Watkins Glen while Hamilton ran a bunch of laps in Stewart’s stock car.

Now, I didn’t get excited about this for two reasons. 1) it was done before (Jeff Gordon and Juan Pablo Montoya at Indy in 2003) and, 2) the first time it had been an F1 test of Gordon’s abilities with serious interest from Frank Williams while this was just a . . . stunt.

In fact, McLaren sent a 2008 car for Stewart to drive, unlike the real deal Williams Gordon got to drive eight years ago.

Stewart said it’s a good thing he didn't have this opportunity years ago or perhaps he wouldn’t have gone to NASCAR. I’m not sure I believe him.

Wickens has near-perfect weekend at Nurburgring

BRUNO SPENGLER THIRD IN DTM RACE, OTHER RESULTS

Canadian race driver Robert Wickens, who spent last weekend at the Grand Prix of Canada serving as reserve driver for the Marussia Virgin Formula One team, continued to build up his already impressive portfolio by scoring two poles, one victory and one second place in Round 8 of the 2011 Formula Renault 3.5 Series season at Germany’s Nurburgring.

Wickens, 22, of Guelph and Toronto, dominated both practice sessions Friday and won poles for the races held both Saturday and Sunday.

After winning the pole for Sunday's race in wet conditions, Wickens had a good start and built a solid lead.

 

But a safety car period in the middle of the mandatory pit-window blew out the team’s strategy of a late-stop with time in hand.  With his advantage eradicated and some rivals having already pitted, Wickens gave up the lead when he went to the pits.

 

Back on-track and charging in third with a fresh set of tires, he passed Malaysia’s Fairuz Fauzy on the penultimate lap to take second but ran out of time to catch leader and ultimately race winner Kevin Korjus.

 

“Overall it’s been a fantastic weekend,” stated Wickens.  “We were close to achieving the complete sweep which would have been remarkable but unfortunately that safety car period in today’s race ended our shot at another win.  It’s a bit ironic that I’m left a little disappointed because of that, not least considering the weekend was so strong, but I really am happy with our overall achievements.  Carlin gave me a great car here in Germany and we’re back in the points lead!”

 

Round 6 of the World Series by Renault heads to the Hungaroring Circuit in Hungary on July 2 and 3. As a reward for holding the lead at the halfway point of the season, Wickens will drive an F1 Renault car in a special demonstration that weekend.

 

On Saturday, a heavy shower just minutes before the first race got under way created treacherous conditions and the Canadian star, who’s expected to be driving in F1 in 2012 if not sooner, traded the lead back and forth with another F1 reserve driver, Daniel Ricciardo, but managed to hold onto it when it counted most – the last lap.

IN OTHER RACING:

– Martin Tomczyk won the fourth round of the 2011 German Touring Car Championship Sunday at the Lausitzring driving an Audi A4. Tomczyk’s teammate, Timo Scheider, the 2008 and 2009 DTM champion, was second.

Canadian Bruno Spengler finished third in his Mercedes-Benz, having started from pole.

Said Spenger: Of course, I would rather have won, but one can never be really disappointed after a podium finish. In motorsport, you have days that aren’t easy. Martin and Timo have done a great job."

Spengler, of Saint-Hippolite, Que., is now second in the DTM standings, one point behind Tomczyk.

Other DTM notables: Ralf Schumacher finished 12^th – and was not happy. Neither was David Coulthard, who was 13^th.

– David Ostella of Maple finished seventh in Sunday’s Firestone Indy Lights race at Milwaukee. He also led a lap. In the U.S. F2000 National Championship powered by Mazda, also at Milwaukee, Matthew DiLeo of Innisfil finished eighth

– Craig Dollansky of Elk River, Minn., swept the World of Outlaws Sprint Car doubleheader at River Cities Speedway in North Dakota at the weekend. Why should we care? The Outlaws will be racing at Ohsweken Speedway on the Six Nations Reserve on July 25^th and if you’ve never seen those guy go at it, you haven’t lived.

– Speaking of Ohsweken, Bryan Howland of Auburn, N.Y., won the Corr-Pak Merchandising Sprint Car feature there last Friday night. It was a warmup for next Friday’s Northern Summer Nationals, which always attracts a top field of sprinters from both sides of the border.

Old cars, old racers at Mosport this weekend

I love to write columns about old races and old racers.

For me, nothing beats a trip down memory lane. I mean, I love the contemporary stuff but, if you want me to be honest, there’s not a lot of romance in modern-day racing as compared to the old days.

I am not alone. Every time I write something in the paper about a race or a driver from way back when, I get a ton of mail — both electronic and snail. You just can’t beat nostalgia to get people turned on.

So this weekend at Mosport should be right down the alley of anybody who ever attended a race at that wonderful place north of Bowmanville, or who was actually in one, be it as driver or mechanic or go-fer.

The 32nd Annual International Vintage Festival, organized by the Vintage Automobile Racing Association of Canada (VARAC), is officially getting under way today and will go full tilt through Sunday.

Some famous old-er cars and some famous old-er racers are going to be there.

For instance, the Grand Marshal for the “Cars of Italy” presentation (Alfa Romeros, Fiats, Ferraris and Maseratis) will be Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame inductee Craig Fisher. 

Fisher, of Toronto, was a driver for the famous Comstock Racing Team of the 1960s and was one of the top sedan racers in North America, winning championships in Canada as well as the United States. 

And the Grand Marshal of “Those Amazing Porsches” will be none other than Ludwig Heimrath, one of the most famous people in Canadian auto racing.

Heimrath, of Scarborough, won the Canadian Driving Championship in 1961 and 1964 and was runner-up three other years.

The handouts for the festival say the glory years of  “grassroots sports car racing” will be revisited and there will be three days of on-track action in popular classes like Open Wheel, Historic and Vintage Production, Sports Racer and 70-plus.

Canada’s largest Mini gathering, Mini Meet North, will return to celebrate 52 years of the Original Mini and 11 years of the New Mini.

Hundreds of cars and drivers from across Canada and the United States are expected to participate.

A three-day SuperTicket will cost $35. Single -day tickets are also available.  Each ticket includes parking, access to the paddock and admission to Mosport Speedway's Saturday Night stock car racing program. 

As is the case with all Mosport events, children 12 and under will be admitted free when accompanied by an adult. And, as always, camping is free.

Tagliani hopes to drive in two races at Honda Indy

The 25-day countdown to the 25th anniversary Honda Indy Toronto began today outside the William Ashley China store on Bloor St. West and guest star Alex Tagliani revealed that he’s working on driving in not just one race that July 8-10 weekend, but two.

“In addition to the Indy race, I’d really like to drive in the (NASCAR) Canadian Tire race that weekend and we’re working on doing that,” said the IZOD IndyCar Series racer who won the pole for last month’s 100th anniversary Indianapolis 500.

“I don’t know if it will be possible, but I’m hoping,” said “Tag,” who welcomed media and passersby to a press conference outside the china shop where an Indy car was perched atop four Wedgwood Bone China teacups.

Honda Indy General Manager Charlie Johnstone reminisced about the first Toronto Indy, in 1986 (there was no race in 2008), noting that Bobby Rahal had been the winner.

He reminded people of the great drives put in over the years by seven-time winner Michael Andretti, two-time winner Al Unser Jr. and Canadians Jacques Villeneuve, Paul Tracy and the late Greg Moore and suggested there was more to come at this year’s event, which will start with the Honda-sponsored Free Friday July 8th.

Racers from other series that will see action during the Honda Indy weekend were present, including NASCAR Canada drivers Jason Hathaway and Don Thomson Jr., John Farano of the Ferrari Challenge and P.J. Groenke and Sasha Anis of the Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship.

But Tagliani was the star of the show and a long line of print, radio and TV reporters waited to interview him.

“Tag” went from racing a 1,525-lb. Indy car at Indianapolis on May 29th to a 3,400-lb. stock car for the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series race at Circuit ICAR in Quebec the following weekend and was in contention to win both before crashes deep-sixed him in each event.

He’s keen to race in the Indy car race in Toronto but would really like to have another crack at the stars of the Canadian Tire Series in the NASCAR race on the Saturday.

“People don’t realize that the best stock car drivers in Canada are in that series,” he said. “Scott Steckly, Mark Dilley, J.R. Fitzpatrick — they all run hard but they run clean and it’s tough to beat them.

“As well as their talent, it’s very difficult to go from a car with a lot of speed and a lot of downforce (the Indy car) and all of a sudden you’re going to a car that’s heavy.

“But you need a special set of skills to drive a NASCAR car to its limit, in qualifying or in the race. I won the pole (at Quebec) but you saw that J.R. was right there with me, every single lap. We passed each other — what — eight, nine times? What a kid. The guy was clean and it was good racing.”

Tagliani said whether he runs in Toronto depends on the help he gets from sponsors Dodge and Hot Wheels.

“I would like to do it here, there’s no doubt. It would be fun but I don’t know if I can make it happen.”

Asked about rumours that he won’t be in an Indy car  past the Emonton race (a week after Toronto) because of sponsorship problems, Tagliani said he didn’t know.

“I have absolutely no idea what is going on at the moment,” he said. “I feel that we will be okay. I’m able to count, I’m able to see where the sponsorship is coming from, I’m able to see what we did with Indy, with all the deals that Sam (Schmidt, the car owner) had going on, with all the deals he has going on with drivers left and right, so I’m hoping for loyalty. Not to replace me because there’s a rental that comes along with money. That would be a shame. And I’m hoping that won’t happen.”

And, by the way, "Tag," who’s going to win the seventh game of the Stanley Cup playoffs?

“Vancouver, of course!” he replied.

“We have to keep the Cup in Canada. Canada is hockey. Everybody knows that.”

Waltrip, Richie Evans in NASCAR Hall of Fame

NASCAR announced the names of the latest Hall of Fame inductees this afternoon and they got just about all of them right this time.

Retired drivers Darrell Waltrip (that Boogity-boogity-boogity boy himself) and Cale Yarborough were the two big names in the bunch. Veteran crew chief Dale Inman, modified star Richie Evans and owner Glen Wood (whose team won the Daytona 500 last February) were the others named.

Waltrip, whose nickname is “Jaws” and who went on to become one of the best racing announcers out there (who also irritates as many people as he pleases), won three NASCAR Winston Cup championships and 84 races in his career, including the Daytona 500. He is tied for the third most wins with Bobby Allison and Jeff Gordon.

Yarborough was the first person to win three-consecutive NASCAR Cup championships. He had 83 career wins, including four Daytona 500s.

Inman is best known for being Richard Petty’s crew chief for three decades. They won 198 races and seven championships together.

He was also the crew chief for Terry Labonte in 1984 when Labonte won the Winston Cup. (I originally typed 1974, but that was a typo - I meant '84. Thanks to a commenter for pointing that out.)

The Wood Brothers Racing Team (Leonard and his four brothers Glen, Delano, Clay, and Ray Lee) holds the unique distinction of being the oldest active team in NASCAR, having fielded cars since 1950. They are known for their long relationship with the Ford Motor Co. and the long-standing use of No. 21 on their  car.

They also invented the modern pit stop. Until then, pit stops had been almost leisurely affairs but the Woods noted that by applying a degree of urgency, they could improve their car’s position on the track. Now, pits stops are lightning quick in all forms of motorsport.

The selection of Richie Evans really pleases me and is a fine illustration that NASCAR has not forgotten its roots. As I wrote when he was nominated the first time:

“There are dozens, perhaps hundreds, of top-notch short-track racers who, for reasons known only to themselves, never went on to the Big Time.

“From my perspective, it was more of a pleasure to watch Evans, Jerry Cook, Maynard Troyer, George Kent, Jimmy Spencer (okay, he moved up) and Reggie Ruggierro going at it, hammer and tong, on the short tracks of the U.S. Northeast than it was to be at a place like Michigan to watch a parade of big names not doing very much of anything.”

Evans won nine NASCAR modified championships, including eight straight. He is more than worthy and, along with the other four, will be officially enshrined in January.

Now, if the selection committee would only get around to inducting Curtis Turner, all would be well with the world.

'Invisible hand' saved auto racing's bacon

Some leftover notes from an incredible weekend of racing:

—   If you’re ever stuck for a definition of the word (or concept) “miracle,” you can use Allan McNish’s Audi R18 crash at Le Mans on Saturday to illustrate.

That car was going over the wall when it seemed like an invisible hand somehow reached out and pushed  it back.

Yes, wheels, etc., seemed to get caught in the top of the retaining fence, and that might have slowed the car down, but I’ve watched that video a dozen times (you can take a look at it here) and I can’t figure out how the centrifugal force carrying the car forward just stopped.

And not only that, reversed!

As a friend of mine said, that accident defied the laws of physics.

And the fact that pieces of carbon fiber, wheels — what have you — went flying off that car and into a restricted area where at least a dozen (or more) marshals and photographers were standing, and nobody was hit by anything, is truly miraculous.

The fact that the McNish crash took place at the scene of the worst accident in motor racing history (the 1955 Le Mans 24 hours in which 84 people were killed and 120 injured when a car, or pieces of a car, went into the crowd) also makes you wonder.

That accident resulted in Switzerland banning the sport; many other countries considered similar action.

It there’s ever another huge disaster, who knows what would result?

God was on auto racing’s side at Le Mans last Saturday.

— Autosport magazine has got everybody all a-Twitter about the fact that Lewis Hamilton had some sort of a meeting in Montreal with Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.

People are saying that this means Hamilton is planning a move to Red Bull.

Now, the last time I looked, the guy who chooses the drivers at Red Bull is not Christian Horner. The guy who makes the decisions on drivers is Helmut Marko and when Lewis sits down with Marko, then I’ll start believing some of this stuff.

My bet? He either stays at McLaren or he goes to Mercedes.

— I don’t get the chatter about Simona Di Silvestro joining Team Penske for the 2012 season.

She’s an okay road racer — not great; good — but out to lunch on ovals and The Captain does not operate a racing school.

If the day comes when she’s as competitive on ovals as Will Power, Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe, he might give her a look — but not before.

The other factor in this “doesn’t-make-sense” scenario is that Penske doesn’t like to run three cars. Never has. He farmed Paul Tracy out to Newman-Haas in the mid-90s in order to cut back to two and he’s keeping Ryan Briscoe around now because of some sense of loyalty. I suggest Briscoe will be elsewhere in 2012 and Penske Racing will be back to two cars.

The other head-scratcher, so far as rumours are concerned, surrounds the alleged interest on the part of some car owners in Katherine Legge.

I’m a big fan of women racing drivers. I have a framed, autographed picture of Janet Guthrie in my house. She was the most talented woman driver until Danica Patrick came along.

Katherine Legge is no Janet Guthrie and she is no Danica Patrick. And there are plenty of other deserving drivers — male as well as female — who deserve a seat in the IZOD IndyCar Series this season before her, starting with Dan Wheldon, who only won the Indianapolis 500.

—  Another note from a friend: “Loved the ending to the Canadian GP, and Vettel’s reaction. Somebody should send a tape to Busch and Hamlin on how to gracefully accept being beaten, especially when you make a mistake. . . “

— And: “If it had been Hamilton instead of Button in that “racing accident” with Alonso, Hamilton would have been penalized.”

Well said.

They’re picking on Lewis and it’s scandalous. Emerson Fittipaldi, who was the driver rep on the stewards’ panel in Montreal, was on record before the weekend as saying that Hamilton was “too aggressive.”

How’d you like to go before a judge, knowing that he had already told people that you  were guilty.

—  Finally, I’m sick of the whining going on in the IZOD IndyCar Series.

Dario Franchitti said before going to Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday night that he didn’t think the lottery system (of determining the grid for the second race) was fair.

Okay, thank you for your opinion, Mr. Franchitti. We understand you don’t think the lottery is fair. This has been noted.

But then Franchitti wouldn’t shut up about it on the TV show all Saturday night. Before the first race, after the first race, during the interview before the lottery and then after the second race, he went on and on and on.

He crashed Victory Lane after the second race (when was the last time somebody who finished seventh went to Victory Lane looking to be interviewed?) and bitched about it again.

Enough!

The people who run the Indy car series, and the TV network that televises the races, and the guy who promotes races at Texas, were trying something a little different to get people who might not necessarily attend Indy car races, or watch them on TV, interested.

It’s called marketing and promotion.

I might understand Franchitti’s concern if he’d never won anything. But the guy has won the last two Indycar championships plus the one the year before he went to NASCAR. In other words, the last three seasons he’s raced Indy cars, he’s won it all.

I know he’s a competitive guy, but can’t he just suck it up and get on with the job? As we all know, life isn't fair.

Betcha he wouldn’t have been as upset Saturday night if he’d picked the pole. . .

Button surprise winner of Canadian Grand Prix

'DRIVE OF HIS LIFE' PUTS JENSON IN WINNER'S CIRCLE

AUDI FIGHTS BACK TO WIN LE MANS

OTHER WEEKEND RACING

In what had to be one of the most spectacular races in the history of the Canadian Grand Prix, and definitely the longest, Jenson Button of Great Britain was the surprise winner in Montreal Sunday when favourite Sebastien Vettel made a crucial mistake and ran wide on the last lap and let Button through.

Vettel, the defending World Champion from Germany, finished second at le Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve and his Red Bull-Renault teammate, Australian Mark Webber, was third.

Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher of Germany drove to a storming fourth-place finish in his Mercedes, just missing the podium.

"That was a hell of a race," said the winner over the McLaren-Mercedes team radio.

It was Button's first win of the 2011 F1 season, his first in Canada and the tenth of his Grand Prix career.

Vettel appeared headed for his sixth win in seven races, leading every lap but the last one. The pole sitter for the sixth time this year, he got slightly off line going into Turn 3 on the 70th lap and fishtailed when his tires touched wet pavement.

The bobble was enough for Britain's Button to flash past and go on to the victory.

Button came from the back of the pack on several occasions, visiting the pits six times for tire changes and one drive-through penalty.

Early in the race, he collided with his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, knocking Hamilton out of the contest.

"The incident with Lewis - I couldn’t see anything and I’ve apologised to him," Button said. "It was really a fight from then on, but I kept on pushing and I managed to get past Seb at the end."

Button said it was probably his greatest Formula One drive. "It was a fanastic race and I enjoyed it immensely. When I look back, yeah, I'd have to say it was one of my best, if not my best."

He said he planned a night out in Montreal to celebrate with his girlfriend and his father. "We'll have a great night tonight," he said.

Vettel said he was disappointed. "It was a very difficult race from start to finish. I was too conservative after the last safety car and didn't open the gap enough. I saw Jenson was coming and I was pushing and when there's only one line I wound up in the wet and it was quite easy then for him to pass."

He said it's hard to justify his mistake.

"When you have something in your hand and then you throw it all away, it's hard to accept," he said.

Vitaly Petrov of Russia finished fifth in his Renault, Felipa Massa of Brazil was sixth in his Ferrari (his teammate, Spain's Fernando Alonso, was knocked out of the race after colliding with Button, who was told to report to the stewards' office post-race to discuss the incident; they ruled he was not at fault), and Japan's Kamui Kobayashi was seventh in his Sauber-Ferrari.

Jaime Alguersuari of Spain finished eighth for Scuderia Toro Rosso, Brazilian Rubens Barrichello was ninth for Williams-Cosworth and Sebastian Buemi was tenth in the second Toro Rosso.

The race started in rainy conditions; a downpour eventually caused a two-hour rain delay. The race, which started behind the safety car at 1 p.m., finally finished just after 5 p.m.

The official time of the Grand Prix when entered in the record books will be four hours, four minutes and 37.037 seconds.

A red flag was thrown on Lap 25 of the 70-lap Grand Prix after officials determined rainy conditions were too dangerous to continue and suspended the race. It resumed shortly before 4 p.m.

Grand Prix races are either for the race distance - in this case 70 laps - or two hours, whichever comes first. When a race is red-flagged, the clock is stopped; as it turned out, the complete race was run but the clock struck two hours during the final lap. 

When the downpour brought out a safety car on Lap 20, many drivers - Vettel and Button included - were telling their teams that standing water on the track made it too dangerous to continue racing.

The race had started behind the safety car because the track was still wet from morning rain. The racers were turned loose on Lap 5 but intermittent rain kept speeds down.

When he collided with Button, Hamilton was already under investigation by the stewards for spinning out Webber when the race was green-flagged on Lap 5 but the investigation was dropped till after the race because he was forced out.

Hamilton has come under fire from the stewards several times this season for on-track activity and after being hauled onto the carpet at Monaco two weeks ago, he told reporters the reason was because he is black.

He later said it had been a joke and apologized to all concerned.

McLaren's Martin Whitmarsh said neither Button nor Hamilton were responsible for the crash that sent the defending Canadian Grand Prix winner to the garage (Hamilton also won the Montreal race in 2007):

“Jenson didn't know he was there and Lewis was trying to make good progress,” he said. “There's no issue. People may criticize, but this is the way we run our race team."

OTHER RESULTS FROM THE WEEKEND’S RACING

– LE MANS: Germany’s Audi won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in an incredible comeback after not one, but two of their three Audi R18 diesel-powered cars entered in the iconic sports car race were destroyed in accidents.

André Lotterer of Germany drove the No. 2 Audi across the finish line about 13 seconds ahead of a second-place Peugeot 908 piloted by Simon Pagenaud of France.

History was made by Leena Gade of Great Britain, who became the first woman to engineer the winning car in the 79 years of the race.

Lotterer co-drove to victory with Swiss driver Marcel Fassler and French driver Benoit Treluyer. Second was held by Pagenaud, Sebastien Bourdais of France and Portugal’s Pedro Lamy. Third place went to a Peugeot raced by French drivers Nicolas Minassian, Franck Montagny and Stephane Sarrazin.

The LMP2 class was won by a Zytek-Nissan driven by Olivier Lombard of France, Tom Kimber-Smith of England and Karim Ojjeh of Saudi Arabia who finished eighth overall.

The GTE Pro Class was won by Olivier Beretta of Monaco, Tommy Milner of the United States and Antonio Garcia of Spain in a Corvette C6.R. They were eleventh overall. And the GTE Am class was won by Patrick Bornhauser and Julien Canal of France and Gabriele Gardel of Switzerland, also in a Corvette.

The two destroyed Audis had Allan McNish of Scotland and Mike Rockenfeller of Germany aboard. Aside from a severe shaking-up of the drivers, nobody was hurt in either of the devastating crashes.

VIDEO: McNish survives early crash

VIDEO: Rockenfeller survives midnight crash

– NASCAR: Jeff Gordon won the 5 Hour Energy 500 at Pocono Raceway Sunday, which was his 84^th NASCAR Sprint Cup victory and ties him for third on the all-time win list with Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Allison.

It’s also the fifth time he’s won a Cup race at Pocono.

Kurt Busch finished second, Kyle Busch was third (his car flunked post-race tech by 1/16th of an inch and he and his car owner will be penalized, likely on Tuesday), Jimmie Johnson was fourth and Kevin Harvick was fifth.

Harvick gave Kyle Busch a hard time on several occasions during the race (Busch got into a fight with Harvick’s car owner, Richard Childress, several weeks ago and Childress was fined $150,000 and put on probation) and Harvick told a TV reporter later that "this is just the beginning."

– NASCAR CANADIAN TIRE: Don Thomson Jr. of Hamilton, a five-time CASCAR champion, held off 2008 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series champion Scott Steckly of Milverton in a late-race dash to the checkered flag to win the Keystone Light 200 Saturday at London’s Delaware Speedway.

Defending Canadian Tire champion D.J. Kennington of St. Thomas finished third, rookie Steven Matthews of New Liskeard was fourth and J.R. Fitzpatrick of Cambridge – who led a race-high 49 laps – rounded out the top five.

Kerry Micks of Mount Albert was sixth, followed by Brad Graham of Glencoe, Jason Hathaway of Appin, Ron Beauchamp Jr. of Windsor and Jason White of Sun Peaks, B.C., tenth.

Pete Shepherd III of Brampton won his first career Keystone Light Pole Award earlier in the day but wound up 17^th after a mechanical issue forced him to drop out of the race.

Steckly leads the standings with 535 points. Thomson trails by 20 points and is followed by Fitzpatrick, Kennington and Jeff Lapcevich of Grimsby.

The Keystone Light 200 will be telecast by TSN on Sun., June 26, at 1 p.m. ET – the same day the Canadian Tire Series will be racing on the road course at Mosport in the Vortex Brake Pads 200.

– INDYCAR: Will Power was the big winner Saturday night at Texas Motor Speedway, taking the second of two races held at the high-banked, 1.5-mile oval. Power’s first IZOD IndyCar Series oval-track victory, combined with his third-place finish in the opening 114-lap race, increased his championship points lead to 21 over defending two-time champion Dario Franchitti.

Franchitti dominated the first race but could only fight his way up to seventh in the second race after the lottery for grid positions saw him starting 28th in the 30-car field.

Power, who pulled the third starting position in the Race 2 draw, took the lead from pole sitter Tony Kanaan on Lap 40.

Canadian report: In race one, in which 30 cars started, pole-sitter Alex Tagliani of Montreal finished fourth, Paul Tracy of Scarborough was 12^th and James Hinchcliffe of Oakville was 20^th .

In race two, Tracy was 13^th, Tagliani was 14^th and Hinchcliffe was 19^th.

Indy 500 champion Dan Wheldon wasn’t in the race but did a fine job doing colour commentary on the telecast.